


Fight Back, Survive

by Anonemoni



Series: We're Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Badass Kara (Detroit: Become Human), Canon Divergence, Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Deviancy (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Alice, Deviant Kara, Drug Abuse (mentioned), Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kara killed Todd - Freeform, Machine Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Mid-Canon, Original Character(s), Original characters are more side/background characters that didn't get any characterization, Past Child Abuse, Physical Abuse, Ralph (Detroit: Become Human) - Freeform, So I'm Giving It To Them, Whump, abuse (mentioned), but also so much comfort, i don't know how to tag, is it whump if the pain is mostly canon?, just like real life, or did she?, so much hurt, some people are nice though!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:42:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonemoni/pseuds/Anonemoni
Summary: *NOTE: I do not own any of the characters or storylines in Detroit: Become Human, nor do I claim to*This story follows Kara and Alice after fighting their way out of Todd's House of Nightmares.Along the way they make some friends... and some enemies (a certain investigative prototype comes to mind ;))They eventually find themselves in a much worse House of Nightmares- a labyrinth of Frankenstein- like torture.How will the pair escape? And what will happen to all of the androids hurt and tortured at Zlatko's cruel hand?
Relationships: Kara & Alice Williams (Detroit: Become Human)
Series: We're Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2072964
Kudos: 12





	1. A (Not so Great) Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fan fiction, yay! As such it is also my first fic in the Detroit: Become Human fandom, double yay! Although I'm not too sure about the title I chose...
> 
> I've been wanting to practice and improve my writing skills, and what better way to do that than by playing with my favorite characters!
> 
> Hopefully some people will find my interpretations and reimagining of the story line interesting, I really wanted to flesh out some of Kara and Alice's emotional states and reactions to the horrible situations they find themselves in. It also never sat right with me that Kara supposedly didn't realize Alice was an android- I had honestly assumed she had been pretending for the child's benefit, so that's how I wrote it in this first chapter.
> 
> This fic is going to be largely canon-compliant in the beginning with extra/slightly different dialogue for flavor, but once we get to Zlatko's house in future chapters, all bets are off. I do what I want.
> 
> I'll try to post fairly regularly, but I am a grad student, so life is generally very busy.
> 
> I hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment- constructive criticism is most certainly welcome <3

_Current Objective: Escape from Todd Williams_

It was raining. And cold. Kara had never really felt cold, per se. But yea, no, it- she- was cold.

The rain hit her exposed neck and arms as she stepped backwards off the bus, still pleading with the man to make an exception, to take them further away.

But the driver had shown little concern for the shivering child at her hip. Which made no real sense to the pleading AX400- Alice looked completely human, and acted it too. Did he perhaps recognize her model where others normally wouldn’t?

Kara was pulled, quite literally, from her begging by the girl’s small hand guiding her back from the doors as they shut in their faces. No help there. Turning to the child, Kara placed a gentle hand on her back and led them both to a sidewalk.

Scanning their surroundings, points of interest popped up in Kara’s HUD like dirty dishes around Todd’s kitchen. A large freeway rumbled over their heads, despite the time of night. Objectives flashed across her eyes, and avenues for investigation- potential paths to take, made themselves known.

_Revising objectives…_   
_Objective: Escape from Todd Williams- Mission Success_

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_Prioritizing new goals..._   
_Current Objective: Discard and replace android uniform._

Kara’s free hand drifted down to her stomach, where a faint splash of blood was still visible on her dress- the rain had done all it could. It was stained. It also clearly marked her as an android (gynoid, if she were feeling particularly pedantic).

The pair walked toward an intersection, hands clutched tightly together. As they approached, the small blips in her HUD offered additional information: a convenience store to the right, a laundromat to the left, and a few possible sources of shelter.

An abandoned building straight ahead looked, frankly, terrifying. Boards were loose, and windows covered. It honestly looked like a great place to get murdered- if you wanted to be a cliché. But that would also be the reaction of others in the area, so perhaps it could offer some privacy.

A motel across the street looked warm. And that was on the forefront of Kara’s mind as Alice shivered violently beside her. She still had access to Todd’s funds… but that was probably the quickest way to be found. And the humans would start looking eventually, they had killed the man after all…

Not to mention the "No Androids" sign in the window. So no motel. For now at least.

Brushing her thoughts aside Kara pulled Alice toward the laundromat. It was warm and dry inside, and with a little luck the only other occupant would continue his nap in the corner.

Scanning the room, there wasn’t much. Some posters on the wall, and a few old magazines strewn about. Only one machine was clearly occupied, likely by the sleeping figure in the corner.

The man- boy really- was slumped over in his chair, headphones playing some loud music. Kara instinctively analyzed and identified the song. It was older- popular in the early 20- teens, with a consistent beat, but a relatively slow and soothing melody. No wonder he was asleep.

He had a hat-a red beanie held loosely across his lap. Perfect for covering an LED.

Kneeling in front of him, Kara calculated and preconstructed the likelihood of him waking were she to take it. If she stayed very quiet and very slowly and deliberately moved…. She calculated a 90% chance of success. More than acceptable.

But then she looked up into his face. He was young, and tired. With a Wayne State University hoodie on. And she felt- what did she feel? Her gut twisted a bit.

Emotions were still so new, but she knew she didn't want to steal. It felt... bad. 

She ran a quick search and came away with the word, "guilt".

At least she had a name for the sensation at any rate.

Shaking her head slightly, Kara reached her hand to rest gently on the hat. She needed to cover her LED. And she NEEDED to get a handle on whatever was happening with her programming. Her emotions. It was a matter of survival.

Just as she began to pull, there was a loud whisper beside her.

“Kara, what are you doing?!!? That’s stealing!” Alice had never really gotten the hang of whispering. Kara suspected that was part of the reason the girl had mostly chosen to be silent at home.

The stage whisper surprised Kara, causing her to jump, pulling the hat harder than she had intended.

“Wha- huh??” The young man started in front of her, further startling the android and landing her square on her ass. With the hat in her hand.

The two made eye contact as Alice’s hands flew up to cover her mouth.

“That’s. That’s my hat.” One hand had moved to scrub at his eyes and face, and his headphones fell around his neck.

To her credit, Kara recovered quickly.

“Oh, this. Yes, of course it is! I’m so sorry to have startled you! You dropped it and I was simply trying to place it back in your lap without waking you!” She plastered on what she hoped was a winning smile. And continued to sit on the floor. One hand braced against the ground and the other clutching the beanie dumbly.

The gun, Todd’s gun, dug uncomfortably into her spine.

The look on the young man’s face seemed to imply that it was not, indeed her most dazzling smile and said, “Uh… ok, thanks..” and made to reach forward when his eyes drifted downward to the stain in her dress. To the blood stain. His eyes widened slightly and he paused.

No one moved for what felt to Kara like an hour, as she desperately made estimation after estimation of which conversation paths could possibly save this situation. When his eyes finally drifted over to Alice.

Alice, who was still shivering despite the warmth in the building, who had a look of complete horror and guilt on her face. Alice, who had the beginnings of a black eye that her repair functions hadn't cleaned up yet. The blue blood pooling beneath her synthetic skin looked startlingly like a human bruise. His face scrunched up like he smelled something unpleasant. He looked concerned. And scared.

He turned back to Kara, his face solidifying into a resolute mask- determined and hostile.

If Kara had thought she was frozen in a failed predictive loop before, the complete stalling of her thought processes at the look on his face was a whole new level of confusion. She couldn’t even imagine what sort of light show her LED was putting off.

“I-” Kara’s smile fell. Did he know? Did he know she was a murderer? Was he going to call the police? Was she going to have to fight him? She really didn’t want to do that… one death was enough on her conscience, and he hadn’t done anything to her or Alice.

Hard, dark eyes darted from her to Alice to the blood stain. “I don’t know what you’ve been through. Quite honestly, I don’t think I wanna know whose blood that is… I promise I won’t say anything if you just don’t hurt me and let me take the girl to the proper authorities.” He shifted his weight ever so slightly between Kara and Alice, arms raised as if bracing for an attack.

Kara could see the shift. Could calculate the exact tension in his muscles, the force he could exert and the speed at which he would move. She didn't want to fight him, but she could also see the hand reaching slowly for his phone.

He was going to call the police. And she couldn't let that happen.

Kara tensed.

“No! You don’t understand! I’m sorry we woke you but we’re not here to hurt anybody!” Kara’s voice had an edge to it. Tense, and just slightly tinged with static. In her chest she felt a new sensation: it was tight, like all of her biocomponents were trying to squeeze together to occupy the same space.

Oh. And she couldn’t breathe. That was new.

The young man immediately pushed himself the rest of the way between the bruised, scared little girl and the panicking android, a snarl on his lips as he tried to unlock his phone without looking.

“Wait! You don’t understand!” Suddenly that same little girl grabbed his arm, running around between him and the broken robot in front of him. “She’s not gonna hurt you! She saved me! My- my dad tried to hurt me and she saved me and he always tries to hurt me and Kara is the only one who helps and now he’s probably chasing us and we need to hide but no one will help us because Kara is an android and we never wanted to hurt anybody but he was gonna kill us and we had to get away and- and-” Alice’s plea devolved into a choked sob as she pulled at the man’s arm. He visibly paled and looked between the young girl and the android, still clutching his beanie.

Kara could see the boy's breath quicken as she slowly reached forward to pull the young girl off of his sleeve, resolve and determination replaced with a look of utter confusion.

He had stopped trying to type into the phone. That was good.

His eyes drifted between Kara and the bruise on the girl’s eye- blue, so, so blue-

Kara slowly held the hat back out to him. “I’m sorry to have scared you, but please just let us go. Forget we were here. We just want to live. Nothing good will come if we’re found.”

Tears welled in her eyes. Interesting. She hadn’t even known she could cry. She had thought that was reserved for the child models.

Something seemed to dampen in his eyes as they flicked back over Alice’s bruised face.

“Keep it.” He said dully. “I- I won’t- I won’t say anything. To anybody.”

Kara’s eyes widened at the gift. They stared at each other for a moment, brown eyes meeting blue, human meeting machine. In the fluorescent haze and amidst the rumbling equipment they studied each other, took stock, and in a world that had shown both Kara and Alice anything but, this man had settled on kindness.

She looked down and away, studying the beanie before putting it on, careful to cover her still (probably frantically) spinning LED.

“Thank you,” She said quietly, “We’ll get out of your hair now,” The two moved toward the door.

“Wait,” Moving to the dryer in front of him, the young man pulled out a light green jacket as well as what appeared to be a blue button-up top. “You should take this too, she looks really cold.” He nodded toward Alice as he handed both to Kara. “And there’s a bathroom in the back corner there, I don’t have another coat to give you, but you can at least get rid of the glowy shirt.”

Kara stared at the boy in shock, the ticking clock her only measure of time passing. She had been hoping to be allowed to escape at the most. This… was unexpected.

"I saw on the news. What happened with that android and that rich family. And- and how he claimed to be alive and stuff. I guess it's true then…" The boy’s voice petered off into an almost whisper. "You two, you're both alive too, huh?"

Alice stiffened under her hand and Kara took the clothes gingerly.

~~~~

She changed quickly in the bathroom, French tucking the too-large shirt into her white work pants. It was a start.

The bathroom was dingy and small, just a toilet and a sink with a trash can in the corner. Cracked tiles and crude writing on the wall were the more tasteful of the décor.

Kara studied herself in the cracked mirror. She tucked a loose strand of hair back into her beanie and noted how the shirt hung loosely on her slight frame. Eyes drifting to a sticker plastered on an unbroken part of the glass, her fingers traced over the words, "We don't bleed the same color!"

Her eyes drifted to the garbage where she had shoved her uniform as far down as it would go, and she whispered to herself, "No, we certainly do not…" She tucked Todd’s gun back into her waistband.

When she emerged from the bathroom Alice was huddled in one of the chairs, completely swallowed by her new coat, and the boy was gone.

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Find me goofin' off on Tumblr, my username is hola-its-olo
> 
> And if you're interested in art (sometimes fanart, often not) I'm olo.arted on instagram :)


	2. Address

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Alice receive help(?) from a strange ally.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this chapter in a haze of US election related anxiety. Enjoy.
> 
> Any wireless android communication will be in italics and quotes- just italics are Kara's thoughts

_Revising objectives…_

_Objective: Escape from Todd Williams- Mission Success, deleting parameters from queue_

_Objective: Discard and replace android uniform- Mission Success_

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_Prioritizing new goals..._

_Current Objective: Find shelter for the night_

Stepping back into the cold, driving rain was overwhelming on multiple fronts. It was loud, and the temperature feedback from Kara’s dermal sensors kept pinging every time a drop hit her skin. 

She was, as the humans say, “Over it.”

Pulling Alice’s hood up and over her hair Kara placed a guiding hand between the girl’s shoulder blades. Her objectives were still clear in her HUD (including an annoyingly persistent “Don’t Move.” that glitched and cracked in and out of view every now and again). They still had no real money, so human disguises or not, the motel was not an option. Kara ruefully crossed it off the list- clipping the possibilities and pre-constructions associated with that path. 

As her scan moved on to the abandoned house, Kara came to the dreadful realization that Alice was no longer beside her.

Turning quickly, she found the girl at a nearby bus stop, huddled and shivering under a bright telescreen overhang. All things considered, that _was_ probably a better place to be than directly in the rain.

Kara quickly crossed the distance to catch up.

She tried to send a quick, " _Are you alright? Please don't wander off, Little One_ ," over the network, but the message bounced.

She paused for a moment, surprised, before repeating the question out loud.

The girl shivered out a miserable, "S-s-ss sorry..."

That didn't sound promising. Kara reached a hand toward Alice’s forehead. She had a build in thermal sensor on each palm.

“Alice, you’re freezing!" Kara's eyes softened as she studied the poor girl. Apparently the new coat hadn't been enough.

_It makes sense, considering she was already soaked underneath it..._ Kara blinked a few times and sighed. At least she could turn of the girl's temperature sensors. Then she'd be more comfortable.

"We’ll find a place to dry off and rest I promise, but in the meantime let me-” As she spoke, Kara’s index and middle fingers reached toward where the girl’s LED would be, skin retracting as she did so.

And Alice flinched away. Violently.

“I- I- I’m fine!” stammering in time with her shivers and an obvious anxiety, the girl’s eyes jumped between the ground and Kara’s chin. “I’ll be alright...”

Kara froze in place, skin reforming over her fingertips. So Alice wanted to keep up the act. Kara instinctively scanned and rescanned her young charge, trying to ensure that everything was in order- that Alice was ok. Her fluctuating stress levels insisted that she was not.

But- how could she be, really? After what that man- who had claimed to be her father- had done to her, to both of them. He acted like she was human, forced her to play the game, and got angry any time she even hinted at her true nature. Hell, he got angry even when she was playing her part perfectly... It was no wonder she was so afraid, even without him watching.

But then again, they were both fugitives now. Perhaps their only hopes lie in pretending. Both of them.

Kara’s reverie was interrupted by the sounds of a large vehicle behind them.

An android, a WR600 designed for various cleaning and maintenance tasks tipped a large trash can into a garbage truck. He glanced their way before approaching.

Kara immediately stood and placed herself between him and Alice. He was a fellow android… but you could never really know…

“You look lost.” Hazel eyes searched Kara’s blue ones as his head tilted ever so slightly to the side. Kind of like a golden retriever. He slowly reached his hand forward, “I can help.”

Kara hesitated, “We have nowhere to go, and we need shelter for the night. Do you know of anywhere safe?” One hand held Alice's shoulder tightly, while the other grazed against the gun in her waistband. Something... wasn't right...

The android in front of her wasn’t blinking, and even appeared to have his automatic breathing turned off. He smiled pleasantly, though his eyes never quite seemed to focus on her, “I can help.”

His hand extended further forward, and Kara thought to herself, “What the hell, how could this night possibly get any worse?” And she reached forward, closing the distance to interface. 

Her auditory and visual sensory receptors went wild with the abrupt and unorganized influx of data. She saw a house, and a man, and several androids going in and out. A repair rig, blue blood, and finally, what she discerned to be an address. The whole flashing, glitching scene took barely a few seconds and was overlaid with a gentle voice, “I can help, of course I’ll help…”

As her processes stuttered back into real time and she calculated directions, Kara deflated at the realization of just how far away the offered assistance was. 

“B-but wait, that-that’s on the other side of town! We need a place for tonight-” As her eyes opened, Kara realized the other android was long gone, and she was left standing there holding her hand out to nothing, grasping nothing.

~~~~


	3. (Un)Friendly Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Alice Break and Enter!

The abandoned car was not an option. Just looking into the cramped and musty interior brought Kara’s stress levels up by 12%. Upon analysis, it brought Alice’s up by 15. 

“Don’t worry little one,” Kara paused in her scans, “We’ll find somewhere else to stay. I’m just looking. It seems to be abandoned, and if someone left something behind that we could use then we’re not really in a position to be picky.”

Alice nodded slowly, likely remembering the confrontation in the laundromat. Perhaps stealing wasn’t the _worst_. So long as they didn’t have any other choice…

Kara checked the locks on each door, and even the trunk- no luck. She nodded toward what appeared to be a haunted murder house next door, which unfortunately was an option. “I honestly think this house here is going to be our best bet, Alice. It looks scary, but that’s probably what will keep most humans away.” Kara searched the ground near the car as she spoke, scanners picking up on a brick a few feet away.

Alice nodded mutely as Kara moved to the side of the car with her red-clay prize. Choosing the front window on the side of the car almost flush to the brick building seemed like the best bet. She could easily reach the unlock button, and it reduced visibility of the damage from the gate, which in turn reduced their chances of discovery in her calculations by 4.2%. Small victories.

She waited for a clap of thunder and brought the brick down and through the glass, careful to angle her strike to avoid inevitable sharp edges. Unfortunately, wet weather and a plastic and steel casing for a hand made for a slippery combination. As the brick crashed through the glass, it slipped from her fingers, causing her arm to jerk slightly more than she had accounted for. The top of her wrist met fractured glass, and she let out a hiss in both surprise and… something she had never truly experienced before.

The feeling nibbled at the edges of her mind as she dismissed error after error for the next 2.5 seconds.

_Warning: Damage to dermal layer on L_Arm- subsection b_

_Warning: Thirium leak detected- levels -4%_

_Initiating repair protocols..._

_Overall Thirium levels: 89%_

_Update: Thirium levels adequate- Refill levels before reaching 70%_

_Update: Dermal repair underway_

In her mind Kara was thrown back into the William’s residence, where similar warnings and updates flitted across her eyes as the support structure of her nose was cracked-

“Kara… are you alright?” The small voice brought her back to the present, to the _pain_ as she finally placed the feeling that she had had no time to ponder in their hasty escape. This is what pain was. Electrical signals mercilessly bombarding her processor with warnings of wrongness- of places where she was broken.

Kara wondered if it was any different for the humans. If this is what it felt like for them when they tripped, when they got paper cuts... When they were shot point blank in the chest-

She shook her head. Shook the thoughts away. Not now. Now they had to focus on surviving.

“I- I’m fine, Alice.” Kara blinked a few times as she dismissed the last of the errors. She noted dimly that the pair would probably need to find some thirium soon. The average android had to top off about once a week, and that was without injury or strenuous exertion. 

“Or at least I will be.” She held her injured wrist up in an attempt to keep too much blue blood from leaking. “My self-repair functions have already kicked in, the wound should close within a few minutes.” She carefully clicked the unlock button on the inner door handle without incident.

Cracking open the trunk of the car proved the entire endeavor to be worthwhile, at least. A large leather coat with a high collar was their prize. As well as a box of miscellaneous tools. Kara shrugged the coat on and placed the box on the ground next to the car.

Squatting down, the pair sifted through the contents. A hammer, some pliers, wire cutters, electrical tape, a set of spanner wrenches, and a few screwdrivers made up their haul. Kara pocketed the wire cutters, a couple of screwdrivers, and the electrical tape- which she promptly used to help seal the small gash in her arm as her repair functions worked. She also grabbed a crowbar that had fallen loose in the trunk. The hammer she handed to Alice.

“Hang on to this.” She commanded in a grim tone, “Only use it if you absolutely have to. I will always do my best to protect you, but I may not always be there…” In a lighter tone she amended, “And if nothing else, if someone gives you trouble you can always just scare them. A hammer is a hammer no matter who is holding it, and no matter how small.” At the last statement Kara let a small smile tug her lips, and she ruffled the girl’s wet hair.

Alice didn’t seem convinced, but she took the hammer all the same.

~~~~

Getting into the adjacent yard had proven to be a bit of a chore.

The wire cutters had made quick work of a length of fence, but in the interest of at least TRYING to hide their presence, Kara only cut one straight line. Holding it open for Alice was fine, and crawling under caused no great incident, but Kara had had to use her injured hand, which slowed the repair process.

Readjusting the cut fencing to hide their progress, Kara activated a scan and swept her eyes across the property.

_Revising objectives…_

_Objective: Discard and replace android uniform- Mission Success, deleting parameters from queue_

_O3je#tive: D0N”7 M0v3- Mission Failed, contact Cyberlife for assistance_

_Current Objective: Find shelter for the night- In Progress_

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_Prioritizing new goals..._

_Current Objective: Find shelter for the night_

  * _Sub-objective: Determine if anyone is present in or around house_
  * _Sub-objective: Find a way in_



Scanning from the outside, Kara found no obvious signs of life. She shut down her scanning software as it proceeded to calculate the exact mass, volume, and surface area of the structure in front of her. That information wasn’t exactly vital at the moment.

Moving slowly, Kara gripped Alice’s hand in her own uninjured one as they tiptoed around the house. 

As they rounded a corner, they came upon a side door to the house. It was closed and boarded, possibly locked. But it had a window that Kara could get a hand through if she could remove a few boards, and hopefully that would be enough.

Kara sent one more scan through the house and sighed when she detected no clear movement or vibrations. She wished she had a way to scan for heat signatures. At any rate, it was now or never.

She gently dropped Alice’s hand and smiled down at her, transferring the crowbar from her injured hand. Kara focused back on the door and positioned the crowbar at a good angle as determined by her programming’s calculations. Taking one more hesitant look around- she couldn’t see the road from this side of the house- she pulled down steadily. She grunted in frustration as she had to add her injured hand to the mix to gain more downward force. The repair was already taking much longer than expected...

The right side of the board came forward, loose, with a satisfying _-pop-_. She smiled and looked down to comment to Alice- who was no longer by her side.

Panic immediately lit up every sensor painfully in her body. Or at least that’s how it felt.

_What?!? Where could she have gone?!? I looked away for 5 seconds! Tops!_ Kara screamed internally and immediately sent a wireless message to the small android, _“Alice, you can’t wander off! Where are you??”_ The message bounced. As it had every other time Kara had tried. She really needed to look into whether that was intentional, or if something was wrong with the girl’s network connection.

Kara frantically stepped around the corner they had come from, sending scan after scan, and froze when her sensors picked up Alice… and another android. They must have turned their autonomic breathing off when she had scanned earlier- she had been concerned about humans, and thus had been searching for _their_ vital signs. Stupid! 

The darkness obscured the two figures on the porch around the corner, but a passing headlight revealed the telltale glint of a knife clutched in the adult android’s hand.

Kara’s scans and calculations went into overdrive. He was 4.23 feet from Alice, pointing the knife right at her. The figure appeared male, or at least masculine by western human standards- standing at approximately 6’ 2” tall. They had on a green poncho and- 

Kara cut her analysis short. What the android was wearing was NOT important right now. Alice had the hammer clutched in both hands and was trembling slightly. She let out a slight whimper as the figure in front of her twitched.

_Revising objectives…_

_Current Objective: Find shelter for the night- In Progress_

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_Warning! Hostility detected. Take measures to protect against loss of human life. Contact local authorities for assistance._

_Prioritizing new goals..._

_Current Objective: Find shelter for the night- Objective Paused_

  * ~~_Sub-objective: Determine if anyone is present in or around house- Mission Success- One individual detected_~~
  * _~~Sub-objective: Find a way in~~_



_Rewriting Current Objective…_

_Curr3nt Obj3ctive: Pr0t3ct A1ic3_

_Analyzing…_

_How would you like to proceed?_

_ >Tackle _

_ >Shoot _

_ >Diffuse _

The first two options her programming provided seemed pretty obvious to Kara. The third… not so much.

She ran the numbers on a physical attack. It did not look good. Running at the android full speed from this distance, she only had a 22% chance of reaching her target before he lashed out at Alice- If he lashed out. And keeping with that preconstruction, only a 12% chance of getting him away from Alice without sustaining fatal damage from the knife. She stopped running the numbers as they started calculating the likelihood of Alice getting caught in the crossfire.

No. Bodily tackling them wasn’t an option. But the gun… her thirium pump stuttered painfully at the thought of pulling the gun on someone, anyone else.

So she decided to trust her programming.

_Objective: Find shelter for the night- Objective Paused_

  * ~~_Sub-objective: Determine if anyone is present in or around house- Mission Success- One individual detected_~~
  * _~~Sub-objective: Find a way in~~_



_Current Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress_

_How would you like to proceed?_

_ >Tackle _

_ >Shoot _

**_> >Diffuse_ **

“Hello sir or ma’am, you seem to be suffering acute distress. I suggest you step back and away and take deep slow breaths to calm yourself. I would be happy to call someone to assist-”

Kara cut off her vocal module at the sheer nonsense that had just come out of it in the most sing-song-customer-service voice she had ever heard in her short life.

Her programming had not been designed for these types of situations, and it showed. So much for that option.

Her jaw snapped shut as the figure turned their attention toward her.

As they did so a loud, feral shriek escaped Alice as she chucked her trusty hammer as hard as she physically could. Point blank.

Kara’s stuttering processor noted, with a hint of pride, that Alice had _absolutely nailed_ the android right in the pump regulator. Ouch.

Everything froze for a millisecond before a horrible wail erupted from the injured android. All at once Alice and Kara sprinted toward each other, Kara pulling her gun as she did so- no longer willing to trust her bullshit programming. No longer willing to risk either of their safety, regardless of the potential consequences. She hooked an arm protectively around the girl and levelled the gun directly at the android’s head.

They had slumped into a heap on the ground- whimpering, blue blood leaking slightly from their abdominal area. They looked up with one terrified hazel eye, and one scar-ringed blue-and-black camera lens as they sobbed,

“No, please! Don’t hurt Ralph! He didn’t mean it!”

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And enter Ralph! Protect the boi at all costs!


	4. Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Alice find a moment of peace with their new friend, Ralph.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last of my election-anxiety fueled writing, so updates will probably be a bit slower from here on out.
> 
> That said, I do have the next chapter or two planned in my head, and I'm very excited about them >:)
> 
> So hopefully it won't take too long for me to get them down, though I am working on a number of other personal projects at the moment...

_Objective: Find shelter for the night- Objective Paused_

  * _Sub-objective: Determine if anyone is present in or around house- Mission Success- One individual detected_
  * Sub-objective: Find a way in



_Current Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress_

So his name was Ralph. And he tended to talk in the third person. Interesting. 

Eyes scanning over the slumped figure in front of her, Kara noted several severe lacerations and- _were those burns??_ All across the android’s arms and face. The damage to the thirium pump regulator appeared to be minor, though temporarily debilitating. And painful as hell.

A second scan revealed Ralph’s thirium levels to be considerably low- 56%. Well below recommended levels.

The knife had fallen to the floorboards on Ralph’s left, and neither party moved to grab it. Ralph simply clutched at his abdomen and whimpered.

Kara was at a loss. Alice had her hands twisted in Kara’s bulky leather jacket and her face hidden. Ralph, well Ralph just kept whimpering and shaking. And twitching, every now and again.

Kara pulled Alice another step away from the huddled android and slowly lowered the gun. She relatched the safety that she hadn’t even realized she had released. Her hand shook slightly and she deliberately pulled her finger away from the trigger. She kept the gun out, just in case, but using it was an emergency option only- the last option she wanted to take.

“Who-” Kara licked her lips, “Who did this to you?”

Shaking, Ralph slowly looked up to meet her eyes. His head gave a slight twitch to the side. “T-t-T-the little girl! D-d-D-didn’t you seeeeeeeee-” His voice cut out in an electric whine before continuing, “The little girl hurt Ralph! And YOU wanted to h-h-hurt Ralph! E-e-e-E-everyone hurts Ralph!” Something in his voice box grated. Every syllable had a harsh staticked twinge to it. Kara’s thirium pump squeezed, and if she’d had a stomach, she imagined it would have, as the humans say, dropped.

“Ralph, we’re- we’re not going to hurt you.” Kara had to swallow the cleaning solution that gathered in her mouth, “Unless you try to hurt us. We’re just looking for a safe place to spend the night.” She took a slow step forward, looking back to make certain Alice was still behind her. 

“Humans hurt us too. Look, I’m an android just like you.” Kara held up her injured left hand, still clutching the gun in her right, and let the skin projection peel away. 

Ralph stared. And twitched.

“Y-y-you’re n-not going to h-hurt Ralph?” His eyes tracked between her white and gray plastisteel hand and her face.

“No, Ralph. We’re not going to hurt you.” Kara’s biocomponents again did that trick where they all compressed and tried to occupy the same small space in her chest. She took a shaky breath.

“T-t-That’s good. That’s good,” Ralph’s chest rattled as he breathed, “Y-y-you said you, n-nn-needed a s-safe place?” Ralph’s capacity for eye contact seemed to have been reached as he hugged his stomach and stared down at the wooden boards beneath him. 

Kara paused and studied him, he seemed considerably calmer, but her scans returned a stress level of 76%, which left her wary of putting the gun completely away.

“T-t-T-that’s good. Ralph’s home is safe. It’s safe.” Kara couldn’t tell if he was talking to himself, or to her.

“I’m glad your home is safe, Ralph. We- we’ll leave now. We won’t hurt you.” Kara did her best to put on a soothing tone, but Ralph didn’t seem to react. She thought back to the android who, coincidentally, was the same model as the one in front of her, that had given her directions to supposed help. She figured it couldn’t hurt to share.

“Ralph? You’re badly injured, and dangerously low on thirium. I got an address from an android on the street. He claimed we could find help there. I don’t know exactly what we’ll find at that address, but I could share it with you if you’d like, before we leave?” 

Ralph looked up at that, “Help? You-you would help Ralph?” The small glimmer in his good eye tore Kara apart on the inside.

“Yes, Ralph. I would help you. So long as you promise not to hurt me or Alice here.” The girl was still hiding her face in Kara’s back.

Ralph seemed to think it over, eyes darting in multiple directions. “Ralph-Ralph would like that. Your help.” He licked his lips, “Ralph’s house is safe. You said you wanted a safe place. Ralph’s house is a safe place.”

Kara blinked a few times and eventually tucked the gun back into her waistband. There was no way she was going to shoot this poor traumatized man. She couldn’t.

“Are you- are you offering to let us stay here, Ralph?” Kara was unsure of the prospect. She wanted to help, and they really did need a place to stay, but Ralph seemed unstable. But at the same time she and Alice had essentially snuck up on him, so how could he really be expected to react?

He gave a small nod, “If, if you want to. You can stay in Ralph’s house. He is sorry for scaring you.” His eyes lifted to land on Alice, “And Ralph understands why you hurt him. The little girl was scared. Ralph knows what that’s like.”

Alice slowly peeked her head out from behind Kara and looked back at Ralph. She whispered a small, “Sorry,” before ducking her head down once again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_Revising objectives..._

_Objective: Find shelter for the night- Mission Success, deleting parameters from queue_

_Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress_

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_Prioritizing new goals..._

_Current Objective: Get some rest_

_Current Objective: Protect Alice_

Kara blinked at the second revised objective. Protecting Alice was always the goal, just as protecting herself was. A similar objective had been created at Todd’s house, but it had been crossed off her task list as they escaped. Did her programming still think they were in danger? Was it just stuck there like the glitched “Don’t Move” command occasionally was? Kara brushed the thoughts aside. They weren’t the highest priority at the moment.

Climbing through a side window into the house, it was warmer than Kara had expected. She reached an arm out and helped pull Alice through as Ralph excitedly urged them on.

“Come! Come! Ralph will show you where he sleeps!” He bounced slightly on the balls of his feet as his guests took stock of their surroundings.

The window they had climbed through was next to the side door Kara had originally tried to open. It had been unlocked, and the boards balanced so as to look like they were firmly in place. Kara kicked herself, and her so-called advanced programming for not noticing it.

“Ralph was outside! Looking for mushrooms when he saw you climb through!” He did a little skip-step through the living room. It was a half limp, half excited jump. “Ralph thought you wanted to hurt him! But you don’t! And that’s good!” He beamed back at the pair.

Kara tried to maintain some distance on the grounds that they still didn’t _really_ know him. But she was having a hard time distrusting him. He was very much like a child, and he had been through so much…

She scanned her surroundings as Ralph talked excitedly about his house, which he, “had found all on his own.” The living room was a decent size, with a table in the middle, a fireplace, and some cushions in a little nook under a staircase that led to the second floor. Everything was dingy and in disrepair, but recently tidied and cleaned. In the corner by the fireplace there was what appeared to be a battery powered heater. It explained the unexpected warmth. 

“Ralph found that.” As if that explained the expensive looking equipment that Kara’s eyes had been drawn to. He had stopped bouncing and was fidgeting with his hands in front of him. He looked guilty.

Kara thought through her next words carefully, “Ralph, I honestly don’t care where you got it. It’s keeping you alive, and it’s going to help warm Alice and I up, keeping _us_ alive. Sometimes survival forces us to do things we regret, but stealing a heating unit is nowhere near the end of the world.” She smiled at the fidgety android, and he seemed to calm at her words. 

She meant what she said though. Freezing temperatures were no joke, and could shut down an android almost as easily as they could kill a human being. Survival was survival.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having gathered some cushions and blankets, Kara set them out in the semblance of a bed near the small electric heater. Alice was over by what appeared to be an old arcade game hugging her hammer to her chest, and Ralph was in the kitchen, which he called his room.

Walking in, Kara couldn’t help but notice the small dead animals on the counter- 2 mice and a bird. She shivered slightly as she wondered how they’d died, eyes moving to Ralph in suspicion. He was carving something into the wall. Ralph had agreed to give up his knife so long as he could be given something to replace it for said carvings. RA9, repeated over and over and over again. Kara had given him one of the small screwdrivers.

He had also agreed to leave with them in the morning, to head to the address Kara had been given.

“Ralph,” Kara spoke softly as she approached, “Why do you have these animals in here?” He paused in his scratching and glanced back.

“They were Ralph’s friends.” He moved to continue his carving, “All of Ralph’s friends leave eventually.” Well... that didn’t bode well.

“Why are you writing that?” Kara needed the change in subject. Her synthetic skin was starting to crawl.

“What?” Ralph completely stopped his work and turned back to Kara in confusion.

“RA9. Why are you writing it?” Kara’s eyes scanned the wall, looking for some sort of pattern, “And what does it mean?”

Ralph blinked a few times and his LED span yellow, “I-I don’t know.” His eyebrows scrunched together tightly and his grip grew slack on the screwdriver, “I don’t know.”

Kara’s face softened as she held eye contact with the android in front of her, “That’s alright, Ralph. I was only curious. It’s okay not to know.”

Ralph nodded once, and turned to continue his work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara tucked Alice in, kissing her forehead gently, “Sleep well, Alice.” She smiled down at her charge.

“G’night, Kara,” Alice’s sleepy and slurred reply came as she nuzzled deeper into the blankets. It wasn’t the most comfortable setup, but it was all they had at the moment.

Rather than laying down for the night, Kara elected to set a chair in the corner of the room. Still close to Alice, but positioned in a way that she would have a clear and unobstructed view of both the kitchen entryway and any and all entrances to the house.

Satisfied, she turned her hearing sensitivity as high as it would go, and set her light sensitivity to alert her to changes in the environment despite closed eyelids.

_Analyzing surroundings…_

_No significant changes to surroundings..._

_Objective: Get some rest_

_Objective: Protect Alice_

She then allowed herself to fall into a light stasis cycle. Humans would call it sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


	5. (Bad) Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream sequence yay!

Kara floated in her own mind. Memories… memories that didn’t quite feel like her own drifted in and out of view as she just… existed. Honestly, it was kind of relaxing.

Until it wasn’t.

Suddenly she found herself in the Williams’ house and her thirium pump stuttered. Todd was in front of her, eyes bulging, mouth practically frothing- shouting something that she just couldn’t quite hear, couldn’t quite understand.

They were in the living room, then her vision glitched and they were in the yard, then the hall upstairs, then Todd’s room, then Alice’s room, and back to the living room. All the while sound garbled and glitched and her vision switched constantly between black and white and color.

And Todd moved steadily toward her. Sometimes holding a bat, sometimes a gun, sometimes nothing at all. At one point he had a chair. That last one had seemed a bit ridiculous to Kara.

As whatever-it-was Todd held came swinging toward Kara’s head everything seemed to move in slow motion- like the scene had been caught mid-scan. The items in Todd’s hand kept morphing- faster and faster, as they came closer and closer to her face. 

His expression remained the same- pure disgusting fury and hatred. 

Kara almost felt sorry for him. Almost. It had to be unpleasant to hold such strong negative emotions in one body. She had felt a few for herself and had quickly decided that she didn’t like them.

Kara didn’t even move as the bat-fist-chair began to make contact with her skull. She didn’t even feel it. The more she thought about it, she came to the realization that she couldn’t really feel her body at all. At least until-

“Kara! Kara Help!” Alice’s voice pierced through Kara’s glitched and hazy hearing just as Todd’s bat split her skull.

And Kara woke up.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short lil chapter for today :)


	6. Appearances

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stressed? Experiencing a life-changing event? Get a haircut!

Kara woke to a plethora of errors flitting across her vision. Nothing had triggered her hearing, the sun wasn’t out yet, and Alice (and she assumed Ralph) were still in stasis.

She dismissed each report telling her of damage to her skull plating as she gently massaged her fingers around where the damage supposedly was. Nothing. None of the error reports came back after being dismissed. It had been a glitch. It had all been a horrible, painful glitch.

Kara sighed as she slumped down in her chair. She checked over her hand where she had lost a fight with a car window yesterday and gently removed the electrical tape. At least that wound had healed. She put her head in her hands and rubbed at her eyes. She had never felt tired before. It was novel.

She rested her elbows on her knees as she watched Alice’s deep-sleep breaths, smiling as the sight calmed her.

_ Revising objectives... _

_ Objective: Get some rest- Mission Success, deleting parameters from queue _

_ Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress _

_ Analyzing surroundings… _

_ Prioritizing new goals... _

_ Current Objective: Blend in with the Humans _

_ Current Objective: Protect Alice _

Kara prodded at her LED with her fingertips. She still had the hat on, but what if it fell off? What if she lost it? What would she do then?

_ If she could find a band-aid or something- _ no, that wasn't likely to work. Kara tucked her hands into her coat pockets and watched Alice sleep for a few more minutes. She fingered the wire cutters she’d saved and sighed as it fully sunk in what she was about to do.

Her eyes found the spot on Alice's temple where the girl's LED should have been. Who had removed hers? Todd? A technician? Kara herself? The thought sat off-kilter in Kara's stomach.

She sighed and stood. Better to get it done before the little one woke up.

Kara walked quietly into the kitchen to see how Ralph was doing- and sighed heavily when she found him gone. His empty nest of pillows and the freshly carved drywall the only signs he had been there at all. Great.

Kara closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deeply before moving toward the stairs in search of a bathroom, or even just a mirror. She wanted to be able to see what she was doing- she was about to take a sharp object to her face, after all. Her eyes caught a reflective surface by the nook under the stairs- a floor mirror, perfect.

She pulled the dusty mirror out of its hiding place and set it against the wall, careful not to make too much noise.

Removing her hat, she looked back at Alice one last time before pulling the wire cutters from her pocket. She stared at her reflection for a moment as she gulped down her anxiety.

_ Stress Levels: 61%- Within Acceptable Parameters _

With one last deep breath she pressed the sharp edge of the wire cutters into the small bio-component, and pulled.

Kara’s vision swam as the damage report overwhelmed her. The LED fell to the floor with a soft  _ -tink-  _ as she fought to get her breathing under control.

_ Warning! Stress Levels Exceeding Acceptable Parameters! _

_ Stress Levels: 89% and Rising- Reduce Stress and Contact Cyberlife for Support _

That… was quite a jump in her stress levels.

Trying desperately to calm herself, Kara turned back towards Alice’s sleeping form. The sight had relaxed her before, maybe it would now?

But as she stared at the child, her vision glitched slightly, and she saw Alice lying in bed- in her bed back home-  _ not home! Not anymore! _ \- still- so, so still with brown eyes blown wide open and blue blood dripping-

_ No! No! This isn’t real!  _ Kara blinked hard and the hallucination vanished.

_ Warning! Stress Levels Exceeding Acceptable Parameters! _

_ Stress Levels: 94% and Rising- Reduce Stress and Contact Cyberlife for Support _

She turned back to the mirror and glared at her reflection. The skin was reforming over her newly LED-free temple, and she was startled at how terrified her eyes looked. They didn’t even look like her eyes.

Fighting for something, anything to cling to, to distract her from her rising stress and memory glitches, Kara pulled up her objectives list.

_ Reviewing objectives… _

_ Objective: Blend in with the Humans- In Progress _

_ Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress _

Kara latched onto the first objective and dug into her code.

She didn’t have much control over her skin tone. Her options were light pale and dark pale. Figures. She could, however, give herself freckles- so she did.

Feeling her stress levels dropping, Kara kept going. She found she could change the color of her nails, and the possibilities were pretty extensive. She chose a light coral-pink and moved on.

Makeup. She gave herself eyeliner and bright pink lipstick. She extended her eyelashes as well. It didn’t change her appearance all that much, but she liked it and it brought her stress levels down so she kept at it. She added bright orange eyeshadow just for curiosity’s sake and nearly jumped when she opened her eyes to her reflection.

Leaning towards the mirror Kara marveled at the reflection. She still looked like herself, just… much more colorful.

_ Stress Levels: 71%- Seek a Less stressful Environment _

Kara dismissed the stress alert and studied herself in the mirror. She kept the freckles and mascara and removed the rest of the makeup. Perfect.

Next were the options for her hair. If she’d thought the nail-color options were extensive, then this was a whole other ball game.

Cycling through, she eliminated color options that were within 2 shades of her original. That left...64 options. No biggie.

_ Stress Levels: 66%- Within Acceptable Parameters _

She started in on the reds… That was decently different from dark blonde. She chose the brightest fire-engine red to try first and had to stifle a giggle. It was so bright!

Next she toned it a bit more orange… then almost purple. Tilting her head to the side she leaned in close to the mirror and pulled it out of its bun. It fell barely past her shoulders.

As the thought of its length crossed her mind, several new options appeared in her HUD, including both length and style. And Kara grinned.

_ Stress Levels: 57%- Within Acceptable Parameters _

First, she deactivated the hair completely to adjust the style and length selections and chose a warm auburn. As her new hair cascaded over her shoulder Kara’s grin only grew. This was getting downright fun.

A few adjustments and selections later, Kara decided she wanted to try something short. Shaved sides, bobs, and even a mohawk were cycled through before she settled on a simple pixie cut with bangs.

_ Stress Levels: 51%- Within Acceptable Parameters _

Red didn’t seem like the best choice as it was more likely than other colors to draw unwanted attention, so she went back to browns and blacks.

Light browns were too close to her original hair, and darker brown just… wasn’t her favorite. That left black. Studying her appearance, she reduced the warmth of the color and sat back. The darkness of her hair really brought out her eyes. She decided she liked it.

_ Stress Levels: 32% _

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter this time. I had been planning on this one being longer and including more stuff, but then I liked the feel of this scene as a stand alone thing.


	7. Most Important Meal of the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ralph makes (finds) breakfast!

Kara tried her best not to freak out. She really did. She had been fully ready and willing to humor Ralph when he said he wanted to, quote, “Have breakfast as a family!”

But when he plopped a half rotten GIANT RAT in the middle of the table, Kara couldn’t help but jump away, knocking her chair over in the process.

The smell of decay triggered her olfactory sensors in an awful way. Sure, she couldn’t exactly smell the way a human could (and she was admittedly grateful for that at the moment), but she had been made with the ability to taste and smell the chemicals associated with spoiled food and man, was this rat spoiled.

“R-Ralph! Where did you get this?!?” Kara couldn’t keep the surprise from her voice.

“Ralph found it in the bush! The little girl looked hungry last night so Ralph found it when he woke up! In the bush!”

His gaze turned to Alice, who shrank back in her chair.

“I-I’m actually really not hungry…” She looked peaked.

“Oh, but-but Ralph found it for you…” He picked at the torn plastic on his arms, deep in thought, then perked up a bit and continued, “It’s succulent!” He seemed pleased with his word choice.

Kara and Alice shared a look.

“Ralph, we really, really appreciate it,” Kara wasn’t sure if she should just be honest. About the rat, about Alice being an android who doesn’t eat, or if she should just… do something else??

Kara was at a loss so she just chose to be honest about the rat, “But we really need to get going to that address I showed you last night. And, honestly, Ralph, that rat isn’t fit for consumption. I have special sensors as a household model- I can smell and taste when food is spoiled.” She did her best to put on a sympathetic smile.

Ralph turned back to Kara, his good eye tearing up a bit, “Oh, Ralph sees. Ralph is sorry.”

Kara was starting to feel really bad when Alice spoke up, “It’s okay, Ralph. It’s hard to know what’s good to eat when you can’t smell. We can have breakfast some other time, maybe after we’ve gotten help?”

Ralph perked up a bit at that, “Yes! Ralph can’t smell, and that makes food difficult.” He nodded emphatically, “But he really wants to try breakfast! With his family!”

Kara smiled at that. She too, liked the idea of family, especially of having one for herself. 

“So is that where you were earlier this morning,” Kara gestured to the rat, “Finding breakfast?”

“Yes! Usually Ralph looks for mushrooms in the morning and at night, but this morning he found the rat!”

Kara had no idea what an android would need mushrooms for, but she nodded. 

Everyone needs hobbies after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The group had been gathering their few belongings when Kara first noticed the red and blue lights rolling past the window. The sound of voices quickly followed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had no idea that peaked (Pee-kid, as in looking or feeling sickly) was spelled like that. How are you supposed to look at that and know not to read it as like, "She peaked in high school"? How are you supposed to KNOW??
> 
> Lessons on the weirdness of the english language aside, I never liked the way Ralph was so aggressive with Kara and Alice in the game. He's mentally ill, with brain damage and PTSD, that doesn't mean he's gonna attack them for no reason! Especially with all of the evidence shown before and later in the game that proves he does in fact care about them- enough to risk and possibly even sacrifice his life! smh... 
> 
> Anywho...I think we all know who's coming for our heroes in the next chapter ;)


	8. Moment of Truth, Kara

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Run.

“Run Kara, Run!” Ralph’s shout pierced straight into Kara’s artificial heart as tears streamed shamelessly down her face. She grabbed Alice by the arm and burst out of the nook under the stairs, sprinting past Ralph- who was grappling the unfamiliar android- and out the newly opened door. 

The pair burst into blinding sunlight as a loud, pained grunt from the unknown android was accompanied by the sound of shattering glass.

 _“Protect the little one!!”_ Ralph’s voice hissed and glitched across the network connection. 

Kara spared only enough processing power to shoot back a quick, _“I will. Get to the address, Ralph. Whatever it takes.”_ Before the pair were off like a shot.

Kara heard shouting from behind her as she and Alice rounded the corner.

“Is that a fucking screwdriver in your neck?!?” The voice was definitely human, and male. More clattering and the crunch of footsteps on glass were the only answers he got.

They should have left earlier. Why hadn’t they left earlier?!?

She had gotten comfortable, and complacent, and had spent too much time trying to plan their exit into the busy streets and now Ralph was-

Kara quite literally closed that thought down like a browser window. Ralph would be fine. He would just have to meet them at the address... and he would be fine. He had to be. 

She gripped Alice’s hand tighter and kept running.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She knew she had fucked up when she saw the chain-link fence in front of them. She had led them to a dead end.

Kara pulled Alice right up to it, then gave the girl a boost, “Climb, Alice! Quickly!”

Alice, to her credit, scurried up the fence quite nimbly. As she got to the top she turned back and visibly tensed.

“He’s coming Kara!”

Kara pulled her gun as she whipped around to face their pursuer. Shit. He _was_ close.

It was the same android from the house- brown hair, pale skin, and what appeared to be a gray suit and tie. _Interesting uniform choice for a police android_ , Kara thought idly, as if her life wasn’t in imminent danger. The model was completely unfamiliar to her.

He was about 20 feet back when she took aim straight at his forehead. His steps faltered slightly as his eyes widened. But he kept running.

Kara noticed the blue blood dripping down the front and side of his throat, and she saw the way he held that shoulder just the tiniest bit stiffer than the other. And she could see the small cuts along his cheek and arms- Ralph had done a number on him. 

_15 feet away._

He continued running toward her, but time felt like it had slowed to a crawl. Here she was, about to add another body to her count. Anger and sadness swirled in her chest and made her eyes and head pound dully. And still he approached- just like Todd in her nightmare.

_10 feet._

Only this time, she would _not_ stand still and wait to die. 

Kara sucked in a deep breath. _Moment of truth, Kara_. Her hands shook as she re-adjusted her aim.

“Wait-” The android reached an arm out towards her.

"I'm sorry," she cut him off, tears streaming down her face.

His eyes were saucers at this point. Eyebrows knitted together, with his mouth slightly open like he was about to shout, and LED cycling yellow. Then red.

_-Bang!-_

_He was 6 feet away._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara watched as the android curled in around his wound. Watched as he hit the ground hard, hands gripping at the bullet wound at his right hip.

She had calculated it perfectly. Had completely separated his leg and hip at the joint. He wouldn’t be walking again soon.

Kara flinched back a bit at the staticked groan that escaped him as he lay there in front of her. Bleeding.

“Kara!” Alice’s panicked whine was tinged with static, and it cut her attention away from the police android immediately. She gave Alice what she hoped was a reassuring smile and tucked the gun in her waistband as she began to climb.

Her feet thudded on the other side of the fence just as a human- the police officer from the house- came running around the corner. He was an older man, with gray shaggy hair and a brown jacket over a… colorful button-down shirt.

“Connor!” His shout reached her ears, and Kara knew she should run, but she just stared. Stared at what she’d done.

The android- Connor tried to push himself up on his hands and knees, and fell back down with a staticked yelp as his right leg didn’t respond at all. He balanced the front of his torso on his arms and looked up at Kara, staring straight into her soul.

She didn’t know what she saw in his eyes- but she didn’t like it. 

His face was completely blank- as she was sure hers had been before deviating- but his eyes… they all but screamed at her. 

She turned, pulling Alice away from the pair just as the older gentleman reached Connor.

They slid down the muddy embankment and made their escape, running along the highway towards the train station.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara said SOCIAL DISTANCING BITCH. 
> 
> Stay tuned for a one-shot (or more) of this chapter from Connor's POV :)
> 
> I think I'll end up making this fic part of a series because I have so many ideas for other characters as well, but we'll see!


	9. Exhaustion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alice is tired.

_ Reviewing objectives… _

_ Objective: Blend in with the Humans- In Progress _

_ Objective: Protect Alice- In Progress _

_ Objective: Reach the Mysterious Address- In Progress _

_ 0bj3ctiv3: D0n’T M0v3- M1s5i0N Fa1l3d, C0nTac# C7b3rLif3 f0r As5i5sTanC3 _

It was dark by the time Kara and Alice finally approached the street that the WR600 had shown them. They had taken the train a few stops, and had switched routes a few times for good measure- but no one seemed to be following them. Eventually they left the station behind and set off on foot for their destination. 

They were a few blocks away when Alice stumbled.

Kara caught her before she could hit the ground, and knelt beside her, allowing the girl to lean heavily into her.

“Alice?! Alice, what’s wrong?” Kara tried to stay calm, but she couldn’t keep the panicked edge out of her voice.

“I-” The girl’s voice was small, so, so very small, “I’m tired, Kara…”

Her eyes fluttered and Kara shook her gently to keep her conscious.

Kara was starting to get worried. It was true that child models were made to simulate various human ailments and conditions- they could get tired, and sick, and could even simulate hunger. But they really couldn’t afford to slow down. And it was really starting to fray Kara’s nerves that she had no way of knowing if the girl’s symptoms were due to her programming, or because of injury and exertion. 

Kara caught and held eye contact with the young girl before speaking, wanting Alice to understand the gravity of her request.

“Alice, I know we need to pretend to be human, and I know you especially want to keep up the act, but I need to run a diagnostic on your systems,” Kara pushed the girl’s hair out of her large, fearful eyes, “Is that alright?”

“N-no, I’m fine, Kara,” Alice had started tearing up, her lip quivering, “I’m just tired is all…” There was a slight static tremble to her voice. Something was very wrong.

Kara scooped the girl up in her arms and set her gently on a nearby bench. It was under a nice little shelter, with some trees nearby. There wasn’t a soul or a security camera in sight.

Kara hugged her close.

“No one will see, Alice. I’ll pull my sleeve up over my hand and it’ll be over before you know it!” Kara plastered on her most reassuring smile and almost broke when the tears spilled over the little one’s cheeks.

“I-I-” Alice sniffled and choked on a sob, “Okay…” Her voice was softer than a gentle breeze, and far more sad.

Kara pulled the giant sleeve of the leather jacket over her hand as promised and placed a white plastisteel finger over the girl’s temple. She leaned over Alice as she did so, further concealing the pair.

To anyone passing by, she would just look like a mother trying to clean a dirt spot off her daughter’s face.

Kara tried not to react as she read the diagnostic. It wasn’t…  _ terrible _ , per se…

But Alice was dangerously low on thirium- 48%, well below what could be considered comfortable- and drawing close to forced standby.

Error reports from various biocomponents made Kara cringe.

Some of them appeared to be quite old… while others were clearly bruises and scrapes from their altercation with Todd.

Kara swore under her breath.

_ If he wasn’t dead already, I would kill him. _

Luckily, however, most of the damage could be handled by the girl’s self repair systems- after a refill on thirium and another good night’s sleep. Many of the reported injuries had been partially repaired the night before- only paused to conserve thirium.

There were just a few that would require some actual tinkering, but weren’t horribly detrimental or painful- at least Kara hoped. The bruise by her eye could use a dermal patch.

Kara smiled softly at Alice as she pulled her hand away, wiping her hair to the side before retracting completely.

She ran a quick search of the area and found a convenience store a block away. It advertised having an, “Android Vending Machine! For all your Blue Blood Needs!”

Perfect.

~~~~


	10. Hacker Voice: I’m In… Or Not...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara tries to hack a vending machine. It does not go well.

Kara carried Alice on her hip as they made their way to the convenience store. The girl had her eyes closed tight, forehead resting in the crook of Kara’s neck.

She was a bit big to be carried like this- a human may have had a difficult time going as far as they had to. But Kara was an android, and Alice was well within her carrying capacity- she barely even registered the weight.

As they approached the neon lights of the store, Kara debated how to move forward. She could conceal her face and front from the nearby security camera easily enough, but there was no way she could just… break the glass of the vending machine without getting caught.

She could probably interface to pay- turn her body just so and hide her arm (for the most part) in her sleeve like she had to check on Alice. Anyone watching would have no clue she _hadn’t_ paid with a card or NFC chip. People saw what they wanted to see, at any rate.

But payment itself was an issue… she still had access to Todd’s accounts… but that could easily be tracked, and the police were already on the lookout for them.

That left hacking… which she’d never actually even tried before if she were being honest.

She didn’t know where to begin, so she figured google was as good a place as any to start...

Her searches pulled up a laundry list of borderline conspiracy theories, most of which had nothing to do with the mechanics or programming of a Cyberlife vending machine.

“Is Your Android Tracking You!? Find Out!”

“Can An Android Steal Your ID?”

“How to Keep Cyberlife Out of Your Files!”

Kara was distracted by the articles. 

She scoffed. Of course your android is tracking you. It’s what they were designed to do. Cyberlife claimed they didn’t collect all the data that individual androids stored… but the connection was there. 

Kara idly wondered why someone would get an android at all if they were worried about being watched. It was kind of the point.

Androids literally stored their owner’s bank information, for starters.

Kara dismissed the useless tabloids and refined her search. Obviously the query, “Android hacking” wasn’t going to cut it.

She kept digging until she found some information that could be considered useful for her task.

~~~~

“Oh, shit.” The hiss escaped Kara’s lips as the vending machine in front of her exploded into a cacophony of beeps and blinking lights.

So… hacking obviously wasn’t her strong suit…

The machine in front of her gave off error after error as she pulled back her hand as if stung.

Luckily, she had been consciously shielding the interface from the lone security camera… but there was no way this would go without notice.

Kara quickly stepped back closer to Alice, who clutched at her arm with wide eyes.

They needed the blue blood… and a small repair kit for that matter. She really didn’t want to just bolt.

She cursed her hesitancy as a medium-height, heavy set man burst out of the convenience store, grumbling.

Kara quickly stepped in between the man and Alice, her face a picture of panic and worry.

Seeing her, the man quickly raised both hands in a placating gesture.

“Whoa, sorry to startle ya miss!” His scowl morphed into a toothy grin, “I just got an alert of a mess of error messages from this useless piece of junk!” He gestured harshly at the vending machine, “The thing glitches at least once a week!”

He moved in front of the fritzing piece of equipment, and quickly unlocked it with a physical key.

He sighed heavily as he turned toward the startled pair.

“I’m real sorry for the inconvenience ma’am, but if ya give me a moment I’ll get you whatever it is you ordered from this piece of-” He very clearly noticed Alice and cut off whatever profanity had been about to escape his mouth, “-poorly designed machinery.”

He smiled awkwardly at his almost-slip up. Alice just hid her face in Kara’s coat.

“I-I’m very sorry,” Kara began. 

_He- he thinks I’m human… I can salvage this_ …

“I honestly don’t know what happened…” She did her best to squelch the panic and instead look mildly concerned- and possibly helpful if the need arose.

He waved his arm over his shoulder dismissively as he entered in a keycode that immediately shut down the alarming and incessant beeping. He turned back to the pair.

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” He smiled even wider, “I’m the one who should be apologizing- the thing does this way too often for what I paid for it!” He laughed loudly. Alice flinched.

He turned back to the innards of the vending machine. Kara could see the coveted blue blood right there, over his shoulder.

“So, what did you order?”

Kara practically did a double take at the question.

The man turned back when she neglected to answer.

“Ma’am?” His eyebrows squished together in concern as he turned to face Kara.

“I- Oh, I’m sorry,” Kara stuttered a bit in confusion, “I’m afraid I don’t understand what you mean… I just wanted to pick up some blue blood and a repair kit...”

“Alrighty,” The man grabbed a basic repair kit from one of the racks- the only type in stock- then turned back to the anxious young woman, “How many packets of the blue goo?”

“I…” Kara eyed the man, “I don’t understand…”

He turned fully toward her and held out the repair kit, which Kara slowly accepted.

“Oh- I guess I should have explained better. It gives the same weird error every time. After someone orders and pays the thing glitches out. Even if I cancel the order and reset the machine your account is gonna get billed.”

He shrugged and cocked his head at the pair.

“Unfortunately I have no way of checking the order until the statement comes in, so to be honest I’m trusting you not to lie about what you got,” He chuckled a bit before continuing, “But if you try to take more than three packets I’ll know you’re lying since that’s illegal.”

Kara was surprised by that bit of info, and quickly searched for information on thirium limits. She was met with a number of articles discussing a recent ban on selling the chemical in bulk. You could only buy a maximum of three 180 mL packets every 24 hours without verifying the ownership of an android. With said verification at a franchised Cyberlife store you could buy more, but that wasn’t exactly an option at the moment… for a number of reasons. 

But three packets wasn’t exactly enough, at least not for the both of them.

Kara quickly did the math.

The average android required approximately 5000 mL, or 5 L of thirium to be considered 100%. The average child model required about half that much.

At 48% Alice had about 1.2 L of thirium currently in her system, and the three packets would bring her up to 1.74 L- about 70%.

Their entire situation considered, it was much better than 48%. Kara could forego ingesting thirium in the meantime if it meant getting Alice out of danger. The older android was fine for the moment.

She smiled politely and consciously relaxed her shoulders.

“Three is exactly how many I punched in, as a matter of fact.”

The man chuckled a bit as he grabbed the packets. He knelt down and offered one to Alice.

“I’m assuming these are for the little tike here?”

Kara stiffened and Alice buried her head even further into the thick leather of her jacket.

“Huh,” the man looked perplexed, maybe even a bit offended, “I didn’t know they could be programmed to be shy,” He stood and offered the thirium to Kara, which she quickly accepted and shoved into her pockets, along with the small repair kit.

“Oh- really?” Kara did her best to feign surprise, “I was told it’s a fairly common trait in their personality matrix- especially if you get it randomized the way we did.”

Kara tried to send apologies and reassurance to the little android for the way she was speaking about her, but, as always, the message bounced...

The man perked up at her response, “Oh, yeah? Interesting. My wife and I, before we had our son, decided to try one out for ourselves as a test run. It was… gosh, about 10 years ago? The primo model back then was the YK200. Amazing how quickly tech advances! Which one’s yours? 400? 500? Or are you one of the lucky ducks who preordered the six?”

The man didn’t seem anywhere near close to being done talking, and Kara could feel Alice trembling at her waist. 

“I- Oh, I’m not entirely sure what- Um…” Kara stumbled over her words. This… was awkward to say the least. And probably traumatizing for poor Alice, who clearly wanted nothing more than to pass as human… She already felt bad for the girl as it was...

Kara cleared her throat as she backed away from the man, Alice in tow.

“Y-you’d have to ask my wife- er significant other-” Her eyes widened as she hoped the man wasn’t homophobic… the first title that had popped into her head… had also popped out of her mouth… “I’m really not great with this tech stuff…” 

Ironic.

She smiled meekly as Alice whimpered. She quickly lifted the girl and held her close to her chest.

The man nodded and smiled pleasantly, though he seemed a bit bewildered at the seemingly sudden change in demeanor.

“Al...right, then,” He gave a little half wave, “Sorry again for the trouble, have a nice evening, miss,” he seemed to understand that Kara didn’t share his desire for further chit chat, and mercifully let the conversation end.

He closed the machine, locked it, then moved back toward the convenience store.

Kara let out a long sigh of relief.

_We just got really lucky…_ she thought to herself as she turned to leave, Alice shaking quietly in her arms.

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kara isn't very good at this hacking thing.... yet >:)
> 
> But practice makes perfect after all ~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> Find me goofin' off on Tumblr, my username is hola-its-olo
> 
> And if you're interested in art (sometimes fanart, often not) I'm olo.arted on instagram :)


End file.
